EFT, Attachment,
and Addiction

"Finally, a reader-friendly and practical guide to helping people understand and overcome addictions utilizing attachment theory. This book provides the reader with hope and a clear pathway to make foundational changes in their relationship with addiction. If you are someone or know someone struggling to find a way out of addiction, I highly recommend this book.” — Joel S. Porter, PsyD, senior clinical lecturer at the National Addiction Centre at the University of Otago, and adjunct associate professor at the Centre for Applied Psychology at the University of Canberra

“This book is a critical addition to the recovery literature. It offers challenging, yet nonjudgmental and insightful tools to propel recovering people on their journey to looking deeper at the root causes of their addiction, and steers them toward a deeper connection in their relationships so that they can finally heal.” — Stefanie Carnes, LMFT, CST, CSAT-S, author of Facing Addiction

“Michael Barnett embraces his readers, taking them by the hand and guiding them gently through this detailed but easy-to-follow book. He reassures them that their addictions are not a weakness, but are rather their best— sometimes even lifesaving—coping strategy. He offers them the hope that the work of developing secure relationships is what can finally inoculate them against the turbulence of the addictive process in their lives.” —Avrum Weiss, PhD, award-winning author of Hidden in Plain Sight

“Michael Barnett has thoughtfully and comprehensively applied the tenets of emotionally focused therapy (EFT) to the persistently vexing question of how best to treat substance use disorders and other addictions. While we have made great strides over the past twenty years in understanding the neurobiology of addiction, we have needed an approach that addresses addictions as symptoms of underlying emotional and trauma- related conditions. Michael has done that beautifully in this workbook.” —James A. Peck, PsyD, licensed clinical psychologist, and senior clinical trainer in the division of addiction psychiatry at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

“Michael Barnett charts a clear path out of the pernicious and perplexing challenges of addiction, offering readers a compassionate journey through the despair of painful isolation to the hope found in a loving connection with self and others. Through his insights and experience, this gifted therapist and soulful guide offers profound wisdom, practical advice, and proven practices that lift the spirit, connect the heart, and give breath to life.” — James Furrow, PhD, couple and family therapy program at Seattle University, and director of the EFT Center of Seattle

It is with a special pleasure to witness Michael Barnett’s labor of love through these last many years, culminating in this book that heartfully consolidates an attachment approach to working with addiction through the lens of the concepts, practices, and processes of emotionally focused therapy (EFT).

I fondly recall many conversations between the two of us when Michael first began researching the implementation of EFT within the treatment protocol of a reputable treatment facility in Atlanta, Georgia, many years ago. What began as a rough sketch for providing a path forward for people struggling with addiction has evolved into a clear, well–thought-out approach to healing addiction from the inside out.

For more than a century, the puzzle of how to support people suffering from addiction has been much like a Zen koan to the fields of both psychotherapy and mental health.

Although we have marveled at medical breakthroughs that allow us to understand the neurobiology of addiction in exquisite detail, hundreds of thousands of people continue to suffer and even die each year from addictive-related causes.

The vast majority of contemporary approaches available to us address the problem of addiction from the top down, assessing it solely as a behavior to be modified. Michael illuminates what has been missing from the field that has essentially been right under our noses the entire time: human connection as the primary resource for healing.

Human connection —attachment— offers the clearest, most direct, and potent promise for not only supporting the healing of the pain that causes addiction but a resource to heal the suffering of the human being. Through EFT, Michael provides readers with effective tools to navigate the turbulent emotional aspects of themselves responsible for self-medication into a new world of possibility: a sense of belonging, connection, and relief without substances.

In doing so, Michael has elevated approaching addictive processes beyond the traditional framework of fellowship, which is necessary but far from sufficient. Like a potent tide pulling the waters to the shoreline, Michael’s inviting voice pulls people beyond simply stopping addictive behavior toward the hidden realities of their own emotional worlds. The inner terrain of emotion can be treacherous and overwhelming for even the most resourced and balanced of people; sadly, when addiction has made its presence palpable in people’s lives, finding the doorway in, where healing must occur, is all but impossible.

Michael has a knack for walking people gently, yet persistently, into the experience of their emotional selves so that they can unlock the doorways that have prevented them from healing their pasts through love and relationship rather than through their substances of choice. Michael’s step-by-step process guides each reader into a lovely process of discovery of the emotional truths that have been driving their addictive processes in an extraordinarily effective way.

– Dr. Sue Johnson, founder and leading authority on Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)

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